The Golden State Warriors could wrap up the NBA championship with a win over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night in Game 6 of the Finals.
If that happens, could that be Andrew Wiggins’ final game in a Warriors uniform? That’s a frightening prospect for Dubs fans, who have come to admire – even love – the man they call Wiggs. And to his teammates, who would be losing a brother.
Wiggins has been an expensive piece of the Warriors’ puzzle, and in the playoffs, especially in the Finals, he has played so beautifully that he might have priced himself off the team.
Beautifully? Yes. In a slide show of Chronicle photographers’ work, some of the shots of Wiggins seem to be misframed. Look closer, though, and you see that Wiggins’s body is at dramatic, dynamic angles, like a motorcycle racer bending into the curve, because he plays with freakish athleticism.
The Celtics are advertised as a much more athletic team than the Warriors, but in the Finals, nobody is out-athletic-ing Andrew Wiggins. Or out-hearting him. He has long been remarkably athletic, but this season, Wiggins has tapped into a deeper well of will, fully basketballlizing his amazing physical talent.
So significant is Wiggins’ contribution to the Warriors that there is a buzz that he would rate consideration for MVP Finals. That’s an overreaction, but Wiggins’ inspired play makes that at least plausible.
A parallel and disturbing buzz is the growing fear among Warriors fans, and no doubt among Warriors players, that this might be it for Wiggins.
This offseason, Golden State owner Joe Lacob and general manager Bob Myers will have to decide which players to keep and which to let go, because it would be prohibitively expensive to keep everyone.
Wiggins? Gary Payton II? Kevon Looney? Otto Porter Jr.? Jordan Poole? Pick and choose whom you’re going to turn away from the lifeboat.
But here’s an idea: Keep everyone. Starting with Wiggins.
That will require a poop-ton of money beyond next season, for which he’s under contract. We just checked the latest Forbes rankings, and that’s exactly how much money Lacob has.
If the Warriors win the NBA Finals, Lacob and Myers – and head coach Steve Kerr and the players – will have achieved a miracle, a championship for the ages.
There will be a glorious parade, then Lacob and Myers will start figuring out which players to get rid of. GP-Two, good luck and thanks for stopping by. Wiggs, please accept this engraved gravy boat as a token of our appreciation for your service.
Wiggins, of course, will be the center of attention. He has elevated his game and willingly blended it into the Warriors’ master plan.
When the Warriors picked up Wiggins in February 2020, he was a perennial selection to the NBA All-Underachiever first team. Now, his teammates and coach adore him. But the Warriors will need to either sign him to a max deal or trade him before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
Since the Warriors are looking at a combined payroll and luxury-tax payout of $ 400 million even if they trade Wiggins, keeping him breaks every rule in the Business Rulebook. To do that, a team owner would have to be operating light years ahead of the book.
If any sports team owner in America would consider laying out the kind of scratch it will require to keep the Warriors together, it’s Lacob. Many owners spend lavishly, even foolishly, but almost all of them get queasy when the payroll starts to cut deeply into profits.
To a growing segment of sportdom, Lacob’s willingness to overspend makes him a fiscal bully. ESPN NBA commentator Brian Windhorst, after Game 5, coined a new term for what the Warriors notched that night.
“You don’t just have to beat the Warriors on the court, you have to beat their checkbook,” Windhorst said, referring to the gi-normous luxury tax the Warriors already pay because of Wiggins. “This was a checkbook win for the Warriors.”
So Lacob and the Warriors are creating an unfair advantage with their crazy spending. And it really is unfair. Lacob is by far the richest NBA owner, right?
Well, not exactly. On the richest-to-poorest rankings of the 30 NBA owners (source: JustRichest website), Lacob is No. 25, with a net worth of $ 1.2 billion. Steve Ballmer (Clippers) tops the list at $ 75.6 billion, and 13 owners are worth at least $ 4 billion each.
So just about every owner in the league can afford to spend like Joe. Most choose not to do so.
And by the way, all 30 NBA owners are richer than they would be because their franchises have appreciated greatly in part because Lacob’s Warriors have revolutionized and energized the sport.
Lacob knows the NBA is a business. But he watches. He sees Payton neutralize the world’s finest offensive players with his annoying relentlessness. He sees Looney wildly overachieve, the product of years of dedication and study. He sees Poole progress from draft bust to blooming star.
And Lacob sees Wiggins, maybe the ultimate embodiment of what the Warriors’ culture can do for an NBA player, help give the team everything it could have dreamed of.
What will Joe do? Hey, you can’t take it with you.
Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler